ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Saturday “unanimously” approved the results of the 2023 digital census, signifying a likely delay of three to four months in the upcoming general elections scheduled to take place later this year.
The government has announced that assemblies will be dissolved on August 9, following which elections should be held within 90 days after end of the assemblies’ tenure.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the meeting in which coalition partners also participated. The single-point agenda of the meeting was to deliberate over the population census.
The meeting, attended by chief ministers of all four provinces, federal ministers, and various department heads, was told that Pakistan’s population has surged to 241.49 million.
مشترکہ مفادات کونسل (سی سی آئی ) نے ساتویں مردم شماری کی متفقہ طور پر (unanimously) منظوری دے دی۔
وزیراعظم محمد شہباز شریف کی زیرِ صدرات سی سی آئی کے پچاسویں اجلاس میں نتائج کی متفقہ منظوری دی گئی،
ساتویں مردم شماری کے مطابق پاکستان کی موجودہ مجموعی آبادی241.49 ملین ہے۔ pic.twitter.com/W9noQwJLuI— Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) August 5, 2023
During an interview earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that elections would be held on the basis of the latest census, while the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already expressed its inability to hold general polls on the basis of the new population count within the stipulated time as it will have to conduct a fresh delimitation of constituencies in this case.
It is a great day for strengthening the Federation of Pakistan. The Council of Common Interests has unanimously approved the seventh digital census. The meeting was also attended by representatives of political parties who joined it on a special invitation. The idea was to make… pic.twitter.com/LQIEkeuzOg
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 5, 2023
Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) and PPP — two of the government’s allies in the Centre — had expressed reservations about the new census. Yesterday, PPP senators in the upper house of Parliament also termed the decision to hold the elections on the basis of the new census a tactic to delay the polls.
However, the PMO statement said the chief ministers of all four provinces and representatives of all political parties were in agreement on the new census results at the CCI’s 50th meeting today, which was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Law minister sees a delay of 2-2.5 months at most in polls
Earlier, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also told Geo News that the new census results were “unanimously” approved at the CCI meeting.
When asked about a delay in the elections, he defended the PML-N-led government’s decision by citing Article 51 of the Constitution, which seats that National Assembly (NA) seats should be allocated to administrative units “on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published”.
Tarar also referred to a 2021 CCI decision to hold the next elections on the basis of the 2023 census as “provinces had reservations about the old (2017) census”.
The law minister said it was now up to the ECP to set begin and complete the delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the new population count.
“There is an outer limit of 120 days … and it now depends on the ECP how soon it begins this process and completes the delimitation.”
He was of the view that if the delimitation was carried out in an effective and efficient manner, it could be completed in less than 120 days. “I believe that polls will then be delayed but two to two and a half months at the most,” he added.
Asked whether the caretaker setup would need any legal or constitutional cover in case of an extended term due to delay in the elections, he replied in the negative.
The law minister also maintained that the new population count would not have any effect on the distribution of seats among administrative units in the NA. The distribution would remain unchanged, he insisted, adding that the initial census results had been reviewed and revised following a scientific audit.
Punjab leads with over 120 million population
Punjab leads with over 120 million inhabitants, followed by Sindh with more than 50 million, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with over 30 million, and Balochistan with over 20 million population, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting on Saturday August 5, 2023, unanimously approved the results of the first ever #DigitalCensus2023. #PakPBS #DigitalCensusPk #Census2023 pic.twitter.com/nCE0AQkVQ3
— Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (@PBSofficialpak) August 5, 2023
The Ministry of Planning and Development provided insights into the digital census, and the meeting marked the final approval for Pakistan’s first-ever digital census. This monumental step towards digitisation was undertaken within a span of just 18 months, setting a historic precedent.
The census not only marked the first time Pakistan’s population was digitally counted using tablets but also introduced the convenience of self-enumeration for the citizens.
The population count not only facilitates economic groups’ size determination but also provides an economic framework throughout the country. To ensure transparency in the census results, a post-enumeration survey was also conducted.
The detailed population figures aid in governments’ constituency delineation and assist in fair allocation of funds, resources, and aid across provinces, districts, and various regions.
2023 census
The decision to hold a fresh census was taken by the CCI chaired by then-prime minister Imran Khan in April 2021 after serious objections were raised both by the government of Sindh, headed by the PPP, and the MQM-P, which was then a coalition partner of the federal government.
Both the PPP and MQM-P felt that Sindh’s population had been undercounted in the 2017 census, though the MQM-P’s concern was more focused on the urban areas of Sindh, including Karachi.
The Seventh Population and Housing Census, subsequently commenced on March 1 and concluded on May 15, after its deadline was extended five times.
The results were presented in the CCI meeting on Saturday where the planning ministry and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics gave a detailed briefing.
According to census results, Pakistan’s population has risen to 241.49 million with an annual growth rate of 2.55 per cent.
The percentage of the rural population in the country is 61.18pc while urban is 38.82pc.
In light of these results, PM Shehbaz said: “In the last six years, the population has increased by 35 million, which is a cause for concern. Pakistan’s population growth rate is much higher than Pakistan’s economic growth.”
مشترکہ مفادات کونسل (سی سی آئی ) نے ساتویں مردم شماری کی متفقہ طور پر (unanimously) منظوری دے دی
٭وزیراعظم محمد شہباز شریف کی زیرِ صدرات سی سی آئی کے پچاسویں اجلاس میں نتائج کی متفقہ منظوری دی گئی
٭چاروں وزرائے اعلیٰ، تمام سیاسی جماعتوں کے نمائندوں نے مردم شماری کے نتائج سے… pic.twitter.com/YqgvuCQ9dx
— PMLN (@pmln_org) August 5, 2023
He underscored the need for controlling and overcoming the challenge of population growth by accelerating the pace of economic development.
